


The Shoaler's Misadventure

by PoisonousTouch



Category: Original Work
Genre: Sharks, Underwater
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21958144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonousTouch/pseuds/PoisonousTouch
Summary: Azeya, a young mermaid shoaler, runs into the cursed land of Mektavesh as she tries to catch her fishes who swam away. As much as she knows she shouldn't be here, the mermaid can't resist checking out what's hidden away in the crater in the center of Mektavesh...This story is more focused on the setting than the story, and serves as an introduction to it.





	The Shoaler's Misadventure

« -Get back here, you idiots ! » Azeya was swimming as fast as she could, trying to catch up to the fishes of her shoal. The mermaid was one of the shoalers, the shepherds of fishes, from the small village of Esharus. And what honour it was for her to become one, a few weeks ago. She was given her coral crook and the responsibility of a shoal after a short ceremony.

At this time, Azeya was feeling so proud. Maybe a little too much. She was a shoaler, after all ! She was to make sure the village didn't run short on food. And it couldn't be that hard to take care of fishes, right ? What she didn't know at the time, however, was that the work of a shoaler could get way more difficult if your fishes do not listen to you...

And it was one of those occasions. The mermaid had an incredibly difficult time, trying to get her shoal to obey. Her task was incredibly easy : she just had to keep an eye on them, move the fishes across the depths of the ocean and make sure none of them would try and get too close to the Mektavesh territory. Simple enough, right ? Unfortunately, the fishes were fond of a particular kind of lichen growing around the Mektavesh crater.

The Mektavesh crater was a cursed place. Long before the merfolks came to live in the depths, a curse was fell upon these lands, making it impossible for plants to grow and for life to flourish. Except for a few truly enduring lichens growing on the rocks.

Strangely enough, a special kind of organism flourished in this region. The metallic lichen, an intriguing symbiote. It was found in abundance around the relics of the old world, twisted structures of metal dotting the vast sea bed. This lichen had developed a strange ability to create metal out of its wastes, and used it as a protective sheet against the ravenous fishes fond of its taste. And for some reason, it was also growing among the desolate landscapes of Mektavesh.

But none of the merfolk tribes wanted to discover what was hidden in the crater. The curse upon that place promised only death for anyone getting too close. Not even the sharkfolks, otherwise known for their bravery, would get close to Mektavesh. And here was Azeya, swimming toward the crater. Trying desperately to catch her fishes.

The mermaid didn't really want to swim through the rocky region. Her village wasn't too far away from it and some nights, some of her people could hear a voice coming from the crater. The elders had decided that, for the safety of the village, going to Mektavesh was forbidden. But of course, she had to lead her shoal too close to the outskirts of the crater and some of her fishes made a swim for it. Azeya couldn't just let them escape like that, especially not in her first week as a shoaler... She would have her crook taken from her, and she would be a complete shame to her family.

So, she did what seemed like a good idea at the time. She'd just catch the fishes before they get too far into the Mektavesh, bring them back and then, everything would be fine. Even though this place gave her the creeps... But these stupid fishes were faster than she thought. The mermaid had been swimming after them for a while now, and Azeya was starting to feel tired. The deeper she went into the region, the more uneasy she felt. But she couldn't stop now, she had committed too much to catching these fishes.

Exhaustion soon caught up to Azeya, however. And the mermaid had to start slowing down. Her fishes didn't seem to feel as tired as their shoaler, keeping on fleeing toward the crater. Giving up for now, Azeya decided to take a little break.

She was now close enough to see the crater's physical outskirts. It was situated in the center of Mektavesh, and few were those who had seen it and had returned to tell the tale... As she was catching her breath, Azeya looked toward the cursed opening in the ground. Did she really swim for so long... ? A chill went down the mermaid's spine. She was in way over her head.

But... But with some luck, the fishes would just be there. Feasting on the odd metallic fungus, and there she would have no issue to catch them and... Bring them back outside of this sickening place. Azeya looked at herself in a pool of mercury, one of the numerous ones that dotted the sea bed. There, she saw herself. A mermaid with short, blonde hair decorated with jewelry, green eyes and a few freckles, with a red tube top and blue, shiny scales on her tail. She needed to at least compose herself, to show some courage... After all, maybe she was lucky ? The curse didn't seem to affect her... And she was still alive. Yes... Yes. She could totally do it. Get to the crater, grab the fishes, get out. Simple as that.

Azeya felt herself a little braver... Or at least, more determined in face of whatever monstrosity from the old world could live in the crater. Taking a deep breath and feeling more energetic, the mermaid swam toward it. Get the fishes. Get out. Swim back to the village. The black rocks on the edge of the crater were covered in the metallic fungus, so abundant it seemed almost like the ground was entirely made of a thin, irregular sheet of metal. But what Azeya saw in the crater itself was... Far more impressive.

Hidden away in the crater was an entire village... No... Way, way bigger than that. Perhaps was it one of the fabled cities from the old world Azeya had heard about, a place so big she had trouble seeing the site in its entirety.

Composed of metal and resting on the ocean bed, the mermaid could gaze upon a sprawling network of tubes made from metal and glass, connecting between them huge metallic structures. The whole place was dotted here and there by gargantuan domes made of glass and was illuminated by pale, green lights coming from the inside of the colossal buildings.

But most impressively, the city was caked in a thick layer of lichen. It was everywhere, covering the underwater complex just as much as the surrounding rocks. But it wasn't just coating the whole place, Azeya could see webs of the lichen between some of the structures. With not a soul in sight.

The mermaid stood there, dazed at her discovery. At this site, this titanic relic of the old world. From before the merfolks came to be. Her whole body was telling her to swim away. To forget about the fishes she wanted to get back so desperately, to be thankful that she was still alive and not tempt fate. To get out.

But she didn't. In front of here was a whole remnant of the ancients... How could she just... Go away ? It wouldn't hurt if she just... Took a peak, would it ? Her curiosity getting the best of her, Azeya began swimming down into the crater. Her heart beating faster from the anxiety she felt going in.

« How could such a place have gone unnoticed for so long ? » she asked herself, now at the bottom of the crater and swimming among the scraps of gutted machinery lying on the ground. Everything was covered in lichen. Gripping her crook tight, Azeya looked around carefully, wondering what all of these constructs of ancient times were used for... Before falling to wrecks at the bottom of the ocean.

Getting closer to one of the buildings, Azeya's nose was suddenly hit by a foul, rancid smell. The mermaid choked a little from it, before plugging her nose. What could be the origin of that atrocious smell ? Could it have been the lichen... ? Azeya knew it smelled bad, but here... It was something completely different. It was retching of decomposition, metal and... Something else.

A smell of... Death ? A shiver went up Azeya's spine. Was the lichen... Able to devour living beings ? It wasn't that dangerous, outside of the crater... But here... The lichen looked like an unnameable evil. Strands of bluish, metallic skin of a gargantuan monster, who took over the ancient city... Was the lichen the reason for the old world's fall ?

The deeper she went in, the more Azeya could hear something... A sort of whisper, at the back of her mind. Spoken in a weird, unknown language to the mermaid. Strange, hushing sounds dotted by clacking sonorities.

The sound, the smell and the fear mixed together were extremely draining for Azeya's mind. The shoaler had trouble focusing her thoughts, and the lichen surrounding her made her even more uneasy. She decided to stop for a minute, next to one of the huge debris among the great structures surrounding her. To compose herself, get some more courage... But she couldn't. Azeya's unquiet mind soon realized how foolish of her it was to have come down here... She couldn't stay. Why did she even come down here, in the first place ? No... She had to swim away. Fast. She had seen enough. She had seen... Too much.

A sudden, metallic sound caught Azeya's attention, before she could start going. It felt as if something was moving around her. Startled, the mermaid looked around her, thinking the lichen was going to move, but... Nothing happened. The strands of lichen and metal didn't move... Azeya felt a bit calmer. Only for a short moment.

In front of her, the debris she was resting next to opened its lichen-coated eyelid. Revealing a large, luminous eye. Looking directly at Azeya, exposing her to the city's sprawling organism.

The shoaler screamed of terror and started to swim away, panic taking its hold. Swimming upward was out of the question, what if the webbings could catch her ? No, Azeya needed to get to the edge of the crater. Get out. And swim for her life. Around her, the weird language intensified. She could hear it in her head, whispering its curses into her mind.

Azeya's intrusion seemed to have awakened the city. And now, it was out for her blood. The mermaid skillfully avoided the metallic wreckage on her way, as skillfully as her fear-filled mind allowed. But suddenly, through the metallic cacophony around her, Azeya could hear something... Something swimming behind her. Chasing her. The shoaler, in a rush of curiosity, decided to look at her hunters...

How foolish it was. Behind her was a bunch of sharks. But these sharks were far different from the ones the mermaid had seen before. The herd was composed of diverse sharks, that would probably never have come together normally, but here... Each and every one of them had their back covered in lichen. The symbiote seemed to have grown on them, forming a network of tendrils on their fins, their head and their tail. The sharks' eyes were all covered by the metallic growth. The lichen had probably taken hold of them, trasnforming them into even more deadlier weapons, covered in living metal.

Terror consumed Azeya. Thinking of how quick these creatures could devour her... Or what would happen if the lichen was allowed to take hold of her too. She wouldn't be able to swim forever... She needed to hide from these creatures. About five sharks were chasing her.

Azeya decided to try and lose the sharks among the wreckage. The shoaler swam around them, taking unexpected turns, trying to lose the hunting pack. If normally, the mermaid would have had no issue with this task, her panic made it way more arduous. She would move too quick, hitting the wreckages, slowing her down. Each bump made her heart jump, scared that the sharks would catch up to her.

But they didn't manage to get to the shoaler. Finally, Azeya found an hiding spot. One of the debris was in the exact right spot for her to hide behind and escape the sharks... With some luck. But if they found her anyway, she would be dead... The mermaid had to make a quick decision. If she stopped and hide, she would be eaten alive... Or worse... But she also knew that she couldn't swim forever. The sharks would catch up to her eventually, and then... Well...

Deciding that a coin flip was better than a long and ultimately pointless chase, Azeya decided to hide behind the debris. Holding her crook tight, her heart beating so hard, she was certain it would explode.

Through a crack in the metal, the mermaid looked at her pursuers. Shivering in fear. One... Two... Three... They kept on swimming, chasing after nothing... Four... Where was the last one ? Azeya felt panic coming back. She stopped breathing. Did the last shark find her ? No... Everything was fine. The fifth shark was just lagging behind... The shoaler could see that it must have hurt itself during the chase, as his tail seemed injured. Oh well... Better him than her, she thought.

Azeya sighed of relief. She had escaped the lichen-infected sharks. And would live to see another day... The shoaler decided to stay in her hiding spot for a little bit longer. This chase had tired her even more than her previous one... And this time, she was a prey... She needed a minute. To get her thoughts in check, and get enough energy back to swim away from this cursed crater... She needed to survive. To get out, and tell the tale of what she saw. To warn the merfolks of the metallic lichen, and the relics from the old world. If they could corrupt like they did to the Mektavesh, they had to do something to fight it back...

As she was thinking about all of that, Azeya's attention was once again caught by the sound of something swimming... Not wanting to get out of her hiding spot, the shoaler looked through the crack in the metal again, to see what it was... Did the sharks come back ?

But it wasn't the sharks. Well... Not really. To Azeya's surprise, she saw another mermaid. The girl's grey skin and dorsal fin made her quickly realize that she was one of the sharkfolks. And that, just like Azeya, she had came to Mektavesh... But wasn't as lucky as her.

The shark girl had a lithe frame. She also had white, short hair, just like a lot of her other tribespeople had, and must have been pretty cute in the past... But now, just like the sharks that pursued Azeya, the metallic lichen had taken hold of her body. The metal-producing symbiote covered her arms and ran on her back up to her head, where it was forming a sort of helmet. Just like for the sharks, the girl's eyes were obstructed by the lichen. But it didn't seem to hinder her vision all that much. Strangely enough, she was also outfitted with some metal pieces, resembling the debris around Mektavesh, but in far better condition. Around both her wrists and her waist. But that was it. She wasn't wearing any clothes outside of this equipment, and her breasts were exposed.

Azeya couldn't believe what she saw. So it wasn't just a fear, the lichen could actually take control of merfolks... The shark girl seemed to be looking around. Probably searching for Azeya, just like the other sharks did. Another shiver ran on the mermaid's spine. If this horror spread outside of the crater... The whole world would be at risk.

Trying to follow the infested girl's movement, Azeya started moving a bit around the crack of her hiding spot. She was quietly looking around, trying to find any sign of the mermaid... Without success. But in her bad luck, Azeya got careless. Her arm suddenly hit a sharp piece of the debris, making her squeak and look at it for a second... It was just a little cut, but... It was bleeding. And this fact alone made Azeya livid as she watched the blood in horror. This small injury, as benign as it was... Was more than enough for the sharks to know where she was.

The infested shark girl smelled the blood, and looked directly at Azeya's hiding spot. Two red dots forming through the lichen, where her eyes should be. And she swam toward her. The shoaler spotted her through the crack and, with no other choice, decided to make a swim for it and got out of her hiding spot as fast as possible.

Her target acquired, the shark girl went after Azeya. The mermaid was terrified. But, with the strength of despair, could still manage to swim as fast as her pursuer. She was at the bottom of the crater's wall, and just needed to get to the edge. Then, it was a straight line to get out of this infested pit of hell. Almost there. She was going to do it ! And finally, Azeya was out of the crater !

But unfortunately for her, so was the shark girl. As Azeya started to swim away from the crater, this infested demon came out of it. And grabbed her by the tail, snatching a scream from the shoaler. But she didn't stop there. With a surprising strength, the girl then threw Azeya backward, making her hit the rocks painfully.

Azeya wailed in pain. The impact had been brutal. Nothing was broken, fortunately... But now, she was lying on the ground. Between a demon and the pit it came from. Before she could do anything, Azeya felt the shark girl's hand close around her neck, keeping her in place. Feeling her claws against her skin. Azeya could then see her... Way closer than she would have liked. Face to face with her pursuer who was arboring a neutral face, under her living helmet.

It was... It was too much for Azeya. The mermaid couldn't take it any longer, and started crying, scared for her life. « -P-Please... » she begged, her voice full of tears. « I... I don't want to di-i-i-ie... » The shark girl looked down at the mermaid. A pathetic, weak shoaler, who lost herself in a place she should have never entered to begin with.

But the shark didn't care. She didn't say a word, looking at Azeya with her cold, soulless gaze. The girl lifted her free arms, fist closed. The metal on her arm suddenly moved. Reshaping itself, rapidly forming a sharp blade of living metal. The sight alone made Azeya panic even more. She cried harder, trying uselessly to escape the hunter's grasp. « -No ! No ! Please, I beg you ! I'll do anything ! » she wailed. But the shark girl didn't care.

As she was about to strike, the infested hunter stopped her movement. As if something was talking in her head. Giving her instructions. Azeya was barely calmed down by this turn of events, at least stopping to struggle for a moment. Was the infested city telling the shark girl to spare her... ? Did she... Was she still conscious ?

The shark girl kept listening to that thing Azeya couldn't hear nor see... Then, she muttered a few words, in that strange language. And the hunter looked back at the mermaid. She lifted her blade again.

And that was the last thing Azeya saw.


End file.
